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Regular User

Had a crack at the Newport Bridge twice now, was unsuccessful the first time due to the local police eurocopter appearing from behind a building like an Apache, whilst half way up the ladder of doom (Pretty much slide down the ladders and gtfo, it would appear unseen)... lol.. Second attempt was much more chilled out, a nice leisurely climb despite slipping about on bird shit near the top and in drizzle... Visited both times with Borolad who had bad luck both times, all most impaling himself the fist time, and forgetting his camera battery the second (Came in handy though, he was distracting the secca who was supposed to be watching over the work site, the bridge is in the process of being painted a hideous red and silver).

Anyway's history, from wiki tonight as we've all heard about the bridge before, not exactly the first mental case to have done this one!! :crazy

Designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson and built by local company Dorman Long,[1] who have also been responsible for such structures as the Tyne Bridge and Sydney Harbour Bridge, it was the first large vertical lift bridge in Britain.[2]

The bridge was inaugurated by the then Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI) and opened to traffic on 28 February, 1934.[3] Constructed around twin 55 m (180 ft) lifting towers, the 82 m (269 ft) bridge span, weighing 2,700 tonnes, could be lifted by the use of two 325 H.P. ELECTRIC MOTORS at 16 m (52 ft) per minute to a maximum height of 37 m (121 ft). In the event of motor failure a standby 450 H.P. petrol engine could be employed to move the bridge, but should both systems fail it was possible to raise or lower the span manually using a winch mechanism. It was estimated in 1963 by Mr R. Batty, long time Bridge Master at Newport Bridge, that "it would take 12 men eight hours" to complete the movement by hand.

Originally, 12 men would have been employed to man the bridge around the clock, usually requiring four to drive it at any one time. This was accomplished from the oak-panelled winding house situated midway along the bridge span. During the 1940s and early 1950s this would occur up to twice a day with an average of 800 vessels per year passing under it,but in the 1940s it was hard because of the war[3] however, as the number of ships needing to sail up to Stockton-on-Tees declined, so did the usage of the bridge.

Legal requirement to lift the bridge for shipping traffic was removed in 1989 after the repeal of a Parliamentary Act. Before mechanical decommissioning Mr Ian MacDonald who worked on the bridge from 1966, finally as Bridge Master, supervised the final lift on 18 November, 1990.